Roma Film Difficulty Ranking: 3
If you love great film or want to be guided around 1970s Mexico City, you’ve come to the right place. Roma is one of the best films you’ll see this century. It’s stream of consciousness narrative feels like life and memory, and the acting and cinematography is a visual treat. Open you’re mind and immerse yourself in Roma.
From: Mexico, North America
Watch: Trailer, Netflix
Next: 8½, Boyhood, Ixcanul
Why Watch Roma?
- To get a feel for Mexico in the 1970s
- It’s one of the best films of the 21st century
- For a window into the life of an indigenous maid in Mexico
- It’s stream of consciousness on film
The Breakdown
Roma starts with Cleo cleaning the garage floor of her employers, which is repeatedly covered in dog shit. It’s an image that we return to throughout the film to bring us back to a central reference point, because as you’ll experience, the film wanders across Mexico City and beyond, traveling across a range of different memories. Unfortunately for Cleo, the central reference point is something that she always has to clean – constantly reminding us, and her, of her place in Mexican society.
Roma centres around Cleo, an indigenous Mixtec maid working for a white wealthy family in Roma, one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Mexico City. She starts and ends the film working for the family, so we don’t see any of her childhood or future, but we do see a snippet of her life. It’s a life that is rarely presented on film: that of an indigenous Mexican maid.
Cleo is our window into life in Mexico City in the 1970s. The narrative jumps from scene to scene like an irregularly written journal. It’s like watching someone’s memory on screen; we follow them down one path, which leads to a door, which opens up another path, which we keep following onto the next door and so on, just like how our thoughts and memory hop from one image to another. In that sense, it may not be interesting enough for those looking for a clear narrative that takes them from A to B. But for those with an open mind, it’s the perfect way to explore Mexico City, by letting a citizen guide you through their standout memories.
It’s just like what you see in Fellini’s ode to Rome (La Dolce Vita), but instead this is Cuaron’s ode to Mexico City.
get a Feel for mexico
Mexico is everywhere in this film. That might sound a bit obvious, as this is obviously a Mexican film, but unlike other films, you really get a feel for the culture and life of Mexico in the 1970s here.
Firstly, there’s the sounds of Mexican life which overload your ears. There’s the songs playing on the radio, Mexican Spanish slang, and the Mixtec language.
Secondly, there’s the historical placement. In a much more subtle approach than Forrest Gump, the narrative takes in historical events that would have affected everyone living in the area at the time, such as the student protest that turns into the Corpus Christi Massacre.
As Guillermo del Toro puts it this film is a fresco or a mural, not a portrait. It’s full of life. (It’s well worth seeing his 10 musings on Roma here).
What to Watch Next
After watching a great film, you’ll want to watch more great films. Luckily for you, there are some similarities between Roma and some of the great classics so you can continue you’re epic film journey.
Firstly, I strongly recommend that you check out Fellini’s La Dolce Vita or 8½ after Roma. La Dolce Vita is Fellini’s ode to Rome, in the way that Roma is Cuaron’s ode to Mexico City. They also both follow a similar stream of conscious narrative, both guiding you lazily through the city following the thoughts and memories of the principal character.
Secondly, I recommend that you check out Boyhood. Whilst it;s not a classic (yet) it feels a lot like Roma. It focuses on the everyday events that make up a human life; the mundane memories that we keep coming back to which stick in our minds forever.
Or, if you want to see more supremely simple expressiveness like Yalitza Aparicio who plays Cleo, check out Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story. These actors all convey so much in their looks.
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